Democratic Party Debate does Provide Valuable Information about the Candidates

For me these debates, which are not really debates but are position statements, do help to determine who you would vote for in the primaries. That is the reason to watch them again tonight.

It was the first and perhaps the most contentious issue of the night. Health care. As the assembled Democrats compared the merits of a more comprehensive single-payer plan like Medicare For All, which would completely eliminate private insurance versus a more incremental step of a government-funded public option.

NBC’s Lester Holt asked for a show of hands on the biggest question about Medicare-for-all, a top progressive policy goal: Would you abolish private insurance?

Only two Democratic candidates — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio — put their hands up.

The standout moment came from Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts who gave an impassioned defense of the more expansive position, her first time really doing so.

“Look at the business model of an insurance company. It’s to bring in as many dollars as they can in premiums and to pay out as few dollars as possible for your health care. That leaves families with rising premiums, rising copays, and fighting with insurance companies to try to get the health care that their doctors say that they and their children need. Medicare for all solves that problem.”

“There are a lot of politicians who say it’s just not possible, we just can’t do it, have a lot of political reasons for this,” said Warren of the fight for single payer. “What they’re really telling you is they just won’t fight for it. Well, health care is a basic human right and I will fight for basic human rights.”

“… and that is that the insurance companies last year alone sucked $23 billion in profits out of the health care system, $23 billion. And that doesn’t count the money that was paid to executives, the money that was spent lobbying Washington.”

“We have a giant industry that wants our health care system to stay the way it is, because it’s not working for families, but it’s sure as heck working for them. It’s time for us to make families come first.”

The Trump Method

Donald Trump’s philosophy or perhaps call it style (could it be called a doctrine?) is use threats and insults to obtain results he wants. While his threats against his business adversaries may have worked to his benefit that same methodology has not worked for him as president. Just last month he tweeted about the “official end” of Iran.

Today in the news are two more threats. From the Los Angeles Times: “Trump keeps the threat of ICE raids and restates his demands. The president says the raids will be rescheduled in two weeks if Congress does not change asylum laws.” From Reuters: “Trump: ‘I did not send’ message to Tehran warning of attack but Iranian sources told Reuters that Trump had warned Tehran via Oman that a U.S. attack was imminent, but had said he was against war and wanted talks.”

The threat methodology has been used repeatedly. Has it worked? It certainly has frightened many people and has impacted the stock market.

Tariffs on all goods from Mexico
Tariffs on all steel and aluminum from Mexico and Canada
Tariffs on all imports from China
Auto tariffs on European cars
Tariffs on all European Union products
Withdraw from NATO
Demand South Korea pay for US Troops based in their country
“Fire and fury” use of military against North Korea
Cut off aid to Central American countries over a migrant caravans

Congress hasn’t caved in (no money for a wall) and neither have the North Koreans who have resumed testing missiles.

“The quaint notion that the job of the judge is to follow the law”

It should come as no surprise that political party viewpoint is paramount to both Democrats and Republicans. Thus it should come as no surprise that Mitch McConnell, the head of the Republican controlled Senate now says he would fill a potential Supreme Court vacancy in 2020.

Furthermore he said, “What can’t be undone is a life time appointment to a young man or woman who believes in the quaint notion that the job of the judge is to follow the law. That’s the most important thing we’ve done in the country, which cannot be undone.”

I’m speechless. We should all be horrified. The sad reality is that two of the current Supreme Court justices who are “liberals” and their likelihood of dying in the next two to six years is significant. Mitch McConnell will have the opportunity to change the Supreme Court for a generation and there is not a damn thing we can do to stop that change.

Mystery of the Bully

U.S. president Donald Trump is a Bully!

From Psychology Today:
Bullying is a distinctive pattern of harming and humiliating others, specifically those who are in some way smaller, weaker, younger or in any way more vulnerable than the bully. Bullying is not garden-variety aggression; it is a deliberate and repeated attempt to cause harm to others of lesser power. It’s a very durable behavioral style, largely because bullies get what they want—at least at first. Bullies are made, not born, and it happens at an early age, if the normal aggression of 2-year-olds isn’t handled with consistency.

Studies show that bullies lack prosocial behavior, are untroubled by anxiety, and do not understand others’ feelings. They misread the intentions of others, often imputing hostility in neutral situations. They typically see themselves quite positively. Those who chronically bully have strained relationships with parents and peers. Bullies couldn’t exist without victims, and they don’t pick on just anyone; those singled out lack assertiveness even in nonthreatening situations and radiate fear long before they ever encounter a bully. Increasingly, children are growing up without the kinds of play experiences in which children develop social skills and learn how to solve social problems.

Trump’s methods to obtain the results he wants all can be connected to the behavior described in the Psychology Today answer to the question What is bullying?

Threats of closing the border to Mexico, threat of withdrawing from NATO, threat of tariffs applied to Chinese exports, threat of withdrawing from NAFTA, threatening the firing of the Federal Reserve Chairman, and so many other threats The weak cower and submit to his demands but those standing up to Trump cause him to back down.

While I do not agree with everyone who stands up to Trump, they have proven to the rest that you don’t have to surrender to his threats. Standing up are Nancy Pelosi (No, we won’t budget the money you want to build a wall), Mexico (No we won’t pay for a wall), China (We will respond with tariffs on the goods you want to ship to our country, North Korea (No, we want sanctions ended before we will negotiate), Europe (No to all of your demands), and then there is GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell who told him there will be no replacement to the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) until after the 2020 election.

Trump, in his style of never backing down always tells us that it was his decision to reach an agreement on trade with China and his decision to postpone a new health plan until after he is re-elected. Trump’s USMCA treaty with Mexico and Canada is remarkably similar to NAFTA but is a great replacement.

The question today is will the GOP grow a backbone to say NO to Trump ideas?

Five takeaways from Trump’s State of the Union address

The speech was not inspiring. It felt like Donald Trump was reading from a shopping list.

Trump ignored the issue of dealing with DACA and deaths caused by repeated use of weapons by the hate filled and deranged people that have committed repeated killings. Even in his honoring those who stopped the killing at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh shooting but not a word about stopping the killing committed by the use of guns. Gun violence is a national emergency.

1. A discordant call for unity

“We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution — and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good.”

Starting with Donald Trump’s attacks and name calling suddenly he started his speech with conciliatory words that were nowhere to be found since he began his candidacy for the office of president. Who did he think he was talking to? Does he really believe one speech will change Democrat perception of him as a bully who only wants his own way?

2. A call for a wall, but no demand

“It will be deployed in the areas identified by border agents as having the greatest need, and as these agents will tell you, where walls go up, illegal crossings go way down.”

Could Donald Trump be backing down just a little? These word along with his recent statements that the wall is already partially built and more has already been approved may be a signal that a wall from sea to shining sea is something he understands he will never achieve. And there wasn’t a word about declaring a national emergency.

3. A double-down on withdrawal from Afghanistan and Syria

No adamant insistence that there immediate withdrawal of all troops by a date certain but he is determined to bring all troops out of those countries very soon. Maybe James Mattis’ resignation did send a message along with words from some Republican lawmakers did have an effect.

4. Areas for compromise?

Infrastructure repairs and prescription drug cost controls are areas where there could be compromise if both parties are really serious.

5. The shocker

Congress should pass a law denying pregnant woman the right to a late term abortion said the president. No one wants an abortion. The decision to abort is horrible. Should those decisions be controlled by a law or by what would be best for mother and child? Happily as Trump pointed out there are more woman in Congress than ever before. They were mostly wearing white outfits and mostly Democrats This proposal made his base happy but happily it’s dead on arrival.

There is no “Art of the Deal”

Donald Trump lost for the second time in less than a week. He is not a happy camper. First he had to postpone his State of the Union speech and now he has agreed to the Democratic Party proposal to open the government. Let’s be clear. What Trump has agreed to today was a proposal put forth by Democrats even before the shutdown had started.

After a 35 day shutdown caused by President Donald Trump refusing to sign a law funding the government, he agreed to funding for three weeks while there are negotiations on border security.

So the reality is the president caved into reality. That reality is government workers can’t pay their bills, flight delays are impacting businesses, IRS and other departments are impacted by furloughs.

What hurt Trump even more is he looks weak against a woman.

Is Trump prepared to make a deal on border security? I would suggest he read the book “Art of the Deal.” Oh wait Trump wrote that book. Too bad he never read it.

Trump sees the wall as a monument to himself

This analysis of Donald Trump and his obsession with building a wall along America’s southern border is worth your consideration.

Analysis by Gloria Borger, CNN Chief Political Analyst

Updated 12:27 PM ET, Tue January 22, 2019

(CNN)One thing about Donald Trump: He knows how to tell you what he’s really thinking.

About the wall, for instance.

Consider this from Trump during the campaign in 2015, explaining the rationale for his favorite edifice:

“What I do best in life, I build. … I want it to be so beautiful because maybe someday they’ll call it ‘The Trump Wall.’ Maybe. If they call this ‘The Trump Wall,’ it has to be beautiful.”

There you go. The wall, for the President, is a monument. To himself. A visible legacy of his achievement; an example of what he considers himself best at: building and branding. It’s not like tax reform or trade policy. It’s actually concrete (or slats) and there for all the world to see as a Trump achievement. Even when he leaves the Oval Office. And way beyond.

If he could put his name on it in gold filigree, he would. But maybe calling it The Trump Wall is good enough.

This is not new for Donald Trump. His life has always been about the theatrical product. “It’s like the curtains opening at an opera,” says biographer Michael D’Antonio. “It’s like a piece of scenery for his show.”

Indeed. And as Trump produces this scene, his concern for the hundreds of thousands of furloughed government workers is lost, taking a back seat to his star, the wall. Kind of like Atlantic City 30 years ago when he was building other monuments to himself, inconspicuously named The Taj Mahal, for instance. The gilded splendor marketed as Trump mattered the most; paying the contractors what they were owed took a back seat. Always.

And so now he has boxed himself in. He truly believes the artifice he has constructed about both his great ability to build and his prowess at negotiating for permission to build. He did it in real estate, he tells us, and he was brilliant, or so he claims.

But now his monument is caught between his own grand vision and Democratic priorities for immigration reform, not to mention his party’s far right. Trump probably longs for the good old days, when he could — and would — say just about anything in a room to test a real estate deal, especially since his company was not publicly held. Exaggeration was king, a perfect fit for Trump. Alan Pomerantz, who represented a group of Trump’s creditors in the early 1990s, calls it “puffing.” Trump probably perfected the art of the hype.

Problem is, negotiating with Congress isn’t like doing a real estate deal. In real estate, you can walk out of a room, as Trump did many times. But when he tried it with Chuck and Nancy it didn’t work. In fact, it backfired.

So now, Trump is left with the ideal of a shrine to himself, but no deal. Concrete or slats, who cares? Furloughed workers in distress, never mind.

So long as the monument can be built, standing for future generations to be reminded of the President of the United States, the Master Builder.

Diversity versus the White Christian Patriarchy

Yes, Donald Trump is the president of the United States. I believe he dreams of being America’s first dictator. Our constitution and laws limits his power. Here are some things that should at least give pause to his pursuit of what he believes is what is best for the United States.

President Donald Trump condemned neo-Nazis and white supremacists in remarks about the Charlottesville, Va. rally at the White House and later in that same White House statement undercut his pre-planned remarks by blaming both sides at the rally that took place August 11 to 12, 2017. Trump defended the KKK and other hate groups saying there were good people among the haters.

He’s changed his demand from time to time and he’s changed the amount of money he’s asking for dramatically from 2 billion to 5 billion to 11 billion to 25 billion even to 70 billion dollars. And when we asked for specifics, how are you going to spend this money? What are you going to do with it? He basically says we’ll shut down the government till you agree on it.

– Senator Dick Durbin

Mike Pence swears in new Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema. At her request, she is being sworn on a law book that contains the Constitution, rather than on a religious text. (President John Quincy Adams did the same thing in 1825.) She’s the first openly bisexual member of the Senate. Meanwhile, Rashida Tlaib, who (along with Ilhan Omar) is the first Muslim women to enter Congress, was sworn in on Thomas Jefferson’s Quran, provoking sputtering rage from Christian bigots.

On its first day this year, the House passed bills to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year, except for the Department of Homeland Security, which got a continuing resolution through Feb. 8, with no funding for Trump’s Wall. The funding is on the same terms that the Senate passed by acclamation before Christmas, but now Mitch McConnell is refusing to bring it up for a vote.

The new Congress makes the country’s political situation clear at a glance: There is one party that wants to preserve the white Christian patriarchy, and another party for everybody else. The Everybody Else Party just came to power in the House.

Americans can choose. I stand for freedom of speech and diversity.

Why is Vice President Pence Smiling So Often?

It has been rumored that Vice President Mike Pence has dreamed of being the president of the United States since he was 17 years old. In reality his devout Christian beliefs have taken a priority in his life. His own words confirmed that at the presidential nominating convention in 2016 where he said in his acceptance speech where he introduced himself as ‘a Christian, a Conservative and a Republican.’ That order should have been a message. Just not all of the time.

The truth is Pence is a smart politician who holds Christian beliefs but willingly will defer them to reach the presidency. And so he sat silently when in the Oval Office while Trump had his explosive confrontation with Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi. That’s not the first time he has kept his mouth shut. Pence has been a longtime, aggressive advocate of trade deals between the U.S. and foreign countries and been a supporter of NAFTA and during his time in the House, he voted for every free-trade agreement that came before him.

The Constitution sets specific grounds for impeachment. They are “treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors.” To be impeached and removed from office, the House and Senate must find that the official committed one of these acts.

We don’t know what charges will be brought against Donald Trump by special counsel Robert Mueller but it is easy to list the possibilities.

1. Collusion with members of the Russian government may not be illegal but being a traitor is the grounds for impeachment. The Constitution defines treason as specific acts, namely “levying War against [the United States], or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”

2. The Emoluments Clause in Article I of the Constitution prohibits Trump from taking any money at all from a foreign state. His ownership of a hotel where dignitaries and heads of state regularly stay and use the ballroom for events when visiting Washington D.C. is an obvious benefit to his family business.

So is Mike Pence smiling to just be friendly or is he awaiting his moment of being sworn in as the 46th president? It’s scary but very likely.